Sliding door with stackable panels

ABSTRACT

A sliding door comprises a plurality of guide panels guided in a straight guide rail track of a guide rail. During an opening movement along a slide axis, the door panels are deflectable by an abutment into an angled guide rail track of the guide rail along a stacking axis so that the door panels can be stacked approximately in the direction of the slide axis and during a closing movement can be unstacked by deflection into the straight guide rail track.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to European Patent Application No.10158991.9, filed Apr. 1, 2010, which is incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a sliding door such as finds use in,for example, an elevator installation as a cage door or storey door.

BACKGROUND

Patent Specification FR-1025073 discloses a sliding door consisting of aplurality of individually pivotable door panels. These door panels arein the closed state of the sliding door arranged with their longitudinalsides in a line so as to form a planar surface and in the opened stateof the sliding door the door panels form a packet with longitudinal sidelying against longitudinal side. The thus-stacked packet of theindividual door panels in the finally opened state demands little space,but due to the fact that the stacking takes place by a concertinamovement or by a zigzag-shaped deflection of the individual door panelsa considerable amount of room can be required during the opening orclosing movement of the sliding door. Beyond that it can be necessary toarrange for this zigzag-shaped arrangement a guide rail, which can beplaced centrally, offset by half the length of a door panel inwardly ofthe cage from the cage threshold in order to avoid the so-called drawereffect. In other words, the solution disclosed in this patentspecification FR-1025073 shows a relatively advantageous space-savingopened state, but a disadvantageous space-consuming path towards thatand back again.

A sliding door has become known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,119 in whichthe door panels in the opening and closing movement are guided at oneend along a first guide rail and at the other end along a second guiderail and coupled together. In the stacking region the first and secondguide rails run at an angle relative to the opening and closingdirection, wherein the door panels are decoupled from one another in thestacking region.

A sliding door has become known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,454 in whichthe door panels during the opening and closing movement inter-engage atthe ends and are parked independently of one another in the stackingregion. The door panels are guided and transported by means of guiderails present at each panel edge.

SUMMARY

At least some embodiments disclose an arrangement of a plurality of doorpanels which can be stacked in a direction of sliding. The individualdoor panels for this purpose during the opening and closing movement donot execute an approximately 90 degree pivot movement, but maintaintheir longitudinal orientation approximately identical to the directionof sliding.

Provided for this purpose is a guide rail in which a guide rod ismovably guided. This guide rod is at the same time insertable into agate guide which at each door panel is fixedly connected with a baseplate of the individual door panel.

At least two of these guide rods are fastened to a first door panel orto its base plate, for example by means of a rod mount, preferably inthe form of a clamp fastenable to the base plate. This clamp can fixedlygrip the guide rod, but optionally in such a manner that the guide rodcan rotate about its own longitudinal axis. A rotation of the guide rodcan prove advantageous for easy running of the sliding door. Inaddition, guide rollers or ball bearings can be optionally arranged atthe guide rods, not only in a lower guide rail, but also in an optionalupper guide rail.

The first guide rod of the first door panel is inserted in the guiderail and the gate guide of the first door panel. The second guide rod ofthis first door panel is in turn similarly inserted in the guide rail,but also in the gate guide of a second, adjacent door panel. The firstand second door panels slightly overlap and thus stand at a slight angleto the guide rail.

The second door panel thus has a guide rod (the second of the first doorpanel) movably arranged in its gate guide and a further, third guide rodwhich in turn is fixedly arranged at the base plate of the second doorpanel. This third guide rod is on the one hand movably arranged in theguide rail and on the other hand again in the gate guide of a third doorpanel. A fourth guide rod is inserted in the guide rail, fixedly at thethird panel and movably in the gate guide of a fourth door panel, etc.In this manner a guided, but at the same time displaceable connectionbetween the individual door panels is realized.

The guide rail or—in the case of a lower and an upper-guide rails formsor form an approximate right angle. Consequently, the guide rod fixedlyarranged at an outermost door panel hits against an abutment during anopening movement of the sliding door. This abutment can alternatively beformed in such a manner that it co-operates—possibly in the form of adeflecting pin—with the outer end face of the outermost door panel sothat no unnecessary friction or even clamping effect builds up betweenthe guide rod fixedly arranged at this outermost door panel and the newguide rail direction. In some cases the angle of the guide rail isrounded off and/or furnished with an obliquely arranged slide surface.

Since the individual door panels are arranged to overlap at a slightangle with respect to the guiding guide rail, the abutment has theeffect that the guide rods respectively and movably inserted into thegate guides are pushed together due to the simultaneous constrainedguidance in the guide rail and are urged laterally into the new,approximately right-angled guide rail track.

In order to avoid increased friction or even a clamping effect in thefirst, straight guide rail track, a further embodiment of a sliding doorcomprises a detent mechanism at the outermost point within the gateguide track for the mobile guide rods. This detent mechanism holds themovable guide rod in the gate guide of the outermost door panel with asmaller holding force, the adjacent door panel with a higher holdingforce, a door panel adjacent thereto with an even higher holding forceand so forth until a highest holding force at that door panel at which adrive is placed. Through this coupling of detent mechanisms retainingwith different strengths it can be achieved that the opening and closingmovement of the sliding door always begins with pushing together of theoutermost door panel and progresses successively with the respectivelyadjacent door panel.

A further embodiment of a sliding door provides a torsion stop tocounter torsion or twisting of the door panels in the opened state. Thistorsion stop can be designed as a further rod which is fastened with themobile guide rod preferably by coupling and is similarly inserted in thegate guide. The torsion stop can, however, also be a spring or a storeof gravitational force which presses lightly against the outermost doorpanel. In principle, a torsion stop suffices merely at the outer doorpanel moreover, for example, in the form of a guide carriage which doesnot permit twisting of this door panel.

The spring or store for gravitational force in this manner representsnot only a torsion stop, but also an assisting aid for guiding thestacked door panels during closing of the sliding door, i.e., duringguidance of the door panels back from the angled guide rail track intothe straight guide rail track closing the cage door.

In some embodiments, the drive of the sliding door can basically becarried out merely at the first or innermost door panel, for example bymeans of a chain, a cable drum or an entrainer. Another embodiment of asliding door provides, however, a drive for each individual door panelin that a pin is insertable into a U-shaped entrainer. As long as thedoor panel is disposed along the straight guide rail track, the pin isseated locked in the U-shaped entrainer. However, as soon as the movableguide rod arranged in the gate guide urges a door panel laterally awayinto the guide rail track arranged approximately at right angles the pinis also taken out of the U-shaped entrainer. In this manner it isensured that merely only those drive panels are driven which aredirectly disposed along the straight guide rail track and the drive of arespective door panel is taken out of action in good time beforereaching the abutment when it is urged into the angled guide rail track.

A sliding door can be designed as a single sliding door over the entireside of the elevator cage, but also as a double sliding door. In thecase of a drive placed merely at one door panel, for a double slidingdoor the two center innermost door panels can be driven in oppositesense. The double sliding door can be formed from two symmetricalhalves, but also from two or more parts of different width.

For avoidance of noise, provision can be made for the guide rollers, themechanical parts of the drive, for example the pins and the U-shapedentrainers, and the abutments to be formed from a relative soft,rubber-like synthetic material or coated therewith.

The described individual features of various embodiments can be combinedwith one another to form a sliding door or doors, thus, for example, thedescribed different embodiments of door panels can be combined with thedescribed different embodiments of torsion stops and with the describeddifferent embodiments of drives.

In some embodiments, the sliding door requires little room duringopening, and thus the cross-section of the elevator shaft is availablewith relatively little obstruction for the cross-section of the elevatorcage.

Embodiments of sliding doors disclosed herein can bring the followingadvantages:

-   -   Little space is demanded, so the elevator shaft can be utilized        to a high degree for a largest possible elevator cage.    -   A low-noise drive can be realized, which drives each individual        door panel.    -   A cage closure can be realized which for a given cage width        makes possible a maximum clear door width.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The disclosed technologies are explained in more detail symbolically andby way of example on the basis of figures. The figures are describedconjunctively and in general. The same reference numerals signify thesame components and reference numerals with different indices indicatefunctionally equivalent or identical components.

In that case:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic and sectional illustration of a sliding door;

FIG. 1 a shows a schematic and perspective illustration of the slidingdoor of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic and sectional illustration of a second variantof embodiment of a sliding door;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic and sectional illustration of a third variantof embodiment of a sliding door; and

FIG. 4 shows a schematic and sectional illustration of the sliding doorof FIG. 1, with a drive.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 schematically shows a sectional illustration of a sliding door100. Door panels 4 a-4 g are each arranged by means of a respectiveguide rod 5 a-5 h in a guide rail 1 with a straight guide rail 2 and aguide rail track 3 angled with respect thereto. The guide rods 5 a-5 hare each fixedly connected with a respective one of the door panels 4a-4 g and can slide along in an opening of a respective gate guide 6 a-6g, which are also each fixedly connected with a respective one of thedoor panels 4 a-4 g. The door panels 4 a-4 g partly overlap in thedrawn-out state and fully overlap in the closed, stacked state and eachform a respective angle W relative to a slide axis 13, wherein the doorpanels 4 a-4 n approximately maintain their orientation with respect tothe slide axis 13, 13 a, 13 b during stacking and unstacking. Thestraight guide rail track 2 and the guide rail track 3 angled withrespect thereto form an abutment 9 for the door panels 4 a-4 g during anopening and closing movement 14 along the side axis 13. Through thisabutment 9 and the arrangement of the guide rods 5 a-5 h in the guiderail 1 and at the same time in the gate guides 6 a-6 g the door panels 4d-4 g were already guided along a stacking axis 16 in a stacking andunstacking movement 15.

A torsion stop 200 is formed in that together with the guide rods 5 b-5h a respective torsion rod 7 a-7 g is fixedly arranged at each of thedoor panels 4 b-4 g. It is thereby prevented that the door panel 4 g orthe door panels 4 d-4 f stacked in front thereof twist in anticlockwisesense.

The sliding door 100 of FIG. 1 is illustrated in part and schematicallyin FIG. 1 a. Also illustrated are rod mounts 8 a-8 d which fasten theguide rods 5 b-5 e and the torsion rods 7 a-7 d possibly in common tothe respective door panels 4 a-4 d.

FIG. 2 shows schematically and in section a second variant of embodimentof a sliding door 100 a, which is characterized in that an abutment 9 ais arranged with an inclined surface 10, which deflects the door panels4 h-4 n from a straight guide rail track 2 a into a guide rail track 3a, which is angled with respect thereto, of a guide rail 1 a. Gateguides 6 h-6 n, in which guide rods 5 i-5 o are inserted, are arrangedat the door panels 4 h-4 n.

A torsion stop 200 a comprises a spring 11 which, supported in a springmount 12 a of a support 17, presses against the outermost door panel 4 nin a spring mount 12 b. In this manner not only twisting of the doorpanel 4 n and the previously stacked door panels 4 k-4 m inanticlockwise sense is prevented, but also guidance of the stacked doorpanels 4 k-4 n out of the angled guide rail track 3 a into the straightguide rail track 2 a during closing movement of the sliding door 100 a.

A further embodiment of a sliding door 100 b is schematicallyillustrated in FIG. 3, which is characterized in that a guide rail 1 bforms a straight guide rail track 2 b and a guide rail track 3 b angledrelative thereto, wherein a guide blade 18 is correspondingly arrangedat the latter parallel to a stacking axis 16 a. A guide carriage 19 canslide along this guide blade 18 and thus forms an alternative torsionstop 200 b. The guide carriage 19 is fastened to the door panel 4 n andcan comprise guide elements 20 a and 20 b of rectangular and elongateform which always grip the guide blade 18 at both sides, even in acompletely closed state of the sliding door 100 b in which the doorpanel 4 n has arrived at an abutment 9 b or on the line of a slide axis13 a.

The sectional illustration in FIG. 4 shows with respect to the slidingdoor 100 of FIG. 1 how a drive 300 is realized. The guide rods 5 a-5 dor extra pins provided for that purpose are each driven by a respectiveU-shaped entrainer 21 a-21 d in correspondence with an opening andsliding movement 14 a along a slide axis 13 b. The guide rod 5 e hasalready left a U-shaped entrainer 21 e in the direction of a stackingand unstacking movement 15 a along a stacking axis 16 b, insofar as inthe opening and closing movement 14 a an opening movement progresses tothe left. In the case of a closing movement to the right, the guide rod5 e enters the U-shaped entrainer 21 e as soon as the U-shaped entrainer21 e is disposed on the line of the stacking axis 16 b.

The drive 300 is optimized by the spring-assisted torsion stop 200 a ofFIG. 2 thanks to a counter-pressure exerted by the guide rods 5 a-5 e onthe U-shaped entrainers 21 a-21 e. As another embodiment, a closingmovement is optimized in that mounted between the entrainers 21 a-21 eis a slide rail connecting them. The entrainers 21 a-21 e and the sliderails preferably form a link chain, which is deflectable.

Having illustrated and described the principles of the disclosedtechnologies, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that thedisclosed embodiments can be modified in arrangement and detail withoutdeparting from such principles. In view of the many possible embodimentsto which the principles of the disclosed technologies can be applied, itshould be recognized that the illustrated embodiments are only examplesof the technologies and should not be taken as limiting the scope of theinvention. Rather, the scope of the invention is defined by thefollowing claims and their equivalents. I therefore claim as myinvention all that comes within the scope and spirit of these claims.

1. An elevator sliding door, comprising: a plurality of door panels, thedoor panels being oriented along a slide axis and movable along theslide axis in an opening movement, the door panels being stackable alonga stacking axis and configured to be deflected by an abutment along thestacking axis, the door panels being configured to be unstacked bydeflection along the slide axis in a closing action, the door panelsbeing configured to remain approximately parallel to the slide axisduring stacking and unstacking, the panels being configured to be guidedby a straight guide rail track of at least one guide rail during theopening movement and the closing movement and to be guided along anangled guide rail track of the at least one guide rail during stackingand unstacking.
 2. The elevator sliding door of claim 1, furthercomprising: respective gate guides coupled to each of the door panels;and respective guide rods coupled to each of the door panels, the guiderods being insertable into the at least one guide rail and intorespective ones of the gate guides.
 3. The elevator sliding door ofclaim 2, wherein the guide rod is arranged in a rod mount.
 4. Theelevator sliding door of claim 2, the guide rods comprising guiderollers.
 5. The elevator sliding door of claim 2, the gate guidescomprising respective detent mechanisms.
 6. The elevator sliding door ofclaim 2, wherein the guide rods are configured to be coupled torespective U-shaped entrainers.
 7. The elevator sliding door of claim 1,wherein the door panels are configurable to overlap each other beforestacking and after unstacking.
 8. The elevator sliding door of claim 1,wherein the door panels are guided in at least two guide rails.
 9. Theelevator sliding door of claim 1, further comprising a torsion stop, thetorsion stop being configured to counter twisting of one or more of thedoor panels.
 10. The elevator sliding door of claim 9, wherein thetorsion stop comprises a torsion rod, the torsion rod being configuredto be fastened in a rod mount of a guide rod.
 11. The elevator slidingdoor of claim 9, wherein the torsion stop comprises a spring.
 12. Theelevator sliding door of claim 9, wherein the torsion stop comprises aguide blade and a guide carriage.
 13. The elevator sliding door of claim1, wherein the abutment comprises a slide surface, the slide surfacebeing inclined relative to the slide axis.
 14. The elevator sliding doorof claim 1, wherein the sliding door is a double sliding door and isconfigured to be coupled to two drives having opposing operatingdirections.
 15. An elevator installation comprising: a sliding door, thesliding door comprising a plurality of door panels, the door panelsbeing oriented along a slide axis and movable along the slide axis in anopening movement, the door panels being stackable along a stacking axisand configured to be deflected by an abutment along the stacking axis,the door panels being configured to be unstacked by deflection along theslide axis in a closing action, the door panels being configured toremain approximately parallel to the slide axis during stacking andunstacking, the panels being configured to be guided by a straight guiderail track of at least one guide rail during the opening movement andthe closing movement and to be guided along an angled guide rail trackof the at least one guide rail during stacking and unstacking.